Tens of thousands of Lebanese descended on the center of Beirut Tuesday to show their support for Syria's military and political role in their country.

Organizers, which included Hezbollah, leftist and pro-Syrian factions, bussed demonstrators into Beirut from across the tiny country. Marchers carried banners denouncing a United Nations Security Council resolution, passed in September, which calls for Syria's 14,000 troops to leave Lebanon.

Giant portraits of Lebanon's pro-Syrian President Emile Lahoud and Syria's Bashar al-Assad hung near parliament and the nearby Martyrs' Square.

Earlier this month, on the eve of Lebanon's independence day, some 2,000 mainly Christian students demonstrated against Syria's presence in their country.